Beginnings of Tobi and Cookie Part 1
by AmricDocal
Summary: Tobi and Cookie attempt to earnthe trust of a nearby chimp group. Placed in Mexico
1. Chapter 1

Tobi and Cookie hop along the tops of buildings in the city. Their objective is a chimp sanctuary Tobi's owner spoke of: placed near a zoo in a forest within the city. The both of them carry with them their weapons fastened to a belt on their hips: macuahuitls fashioned of cut wood and glass. Tobi and Cookie had practised in their use with eachother using training versions, but they have yet to have to use them. Tobi believes they might have to, however; as Tobi's owner had warned them that many humans believe chimps caused the Simian Flu crisis and would be hostile.

They hop onto the top of another building where Tobi makes the sign to stop.

"Why stop?" Cookie gestures.

"Stop, look map," Tobi gestures back. Cookie takes the map from his side pouch and hands it to Tobi. Tobi analyses the map and looks to the sun's position.

"Far?" Cookie inquires.

"No. Close there." Tobi responds, pointing to the south, "wood close road."

Cookie holds a hand up as he hears indistinct talking. Tobi and Cookie lie down on the roof. They wait as the voices stop beneath them. They hear a door open beneath them: Tobi investigates. He looks down and sees no one.

"They in," Tobi notes.

"We go" Cookie gestures. Tobi nods. They proceed across the buildings, headed along a large road toward the wooded park.

They reach the park and Tobi checks the map to find the location of the sanctuary. He leads the way to it and they enter. It is an old cement building, with solid metal doors and gates barring enclosures.

"Silent," Cookie notes.

Tobi draws his macuahuitl.

"What you doing?" Cookie signs.

"Need be careful," Tobi responds, "We check, see if they here."

They scope out the sanctuary, and do not find a single denizen. They find plenty of signs they were there, and a lack of signs of violence.

"Tobi," Cookie says, "Look at this."

Tobi heads over to Cookie. He looks upon what Cookie is: an open door to an outside area enclosed by bars. They investigate and find the bars eaten away by corrosion and plant life, leaving a sizeable gap in the corner farthest from them.

"What we do?" Cookie gestures.

"I not know," Tobi answers.

"They close here. They out there," Cookie signs.

"We not know them. They may attack," Tobi signs.

"They our hope against humans."

"They not know us. Never see us. We need be careful. We keep distance."

"We need look for them."

Tobi nods in agreement. They squeeze through the hole and walk throught the trees, weapons drawn. They walk, and they hear rustling in the trees. Tobi and Cookie stop to look around. For many uneasy minutes they stand ready to fight. They hear more rustling and notice movement in the distance. They see a black figure amongst the trees: one of the chimps. The chimp begins to make a loud, repetitive call. Tobi and Cookie step back a few paces. As the chimp raises its call, more rustling can be noticed in the trees.

"Run," Tobi says. The two stow their macuahitls and run on all fours back to the derelict sanctuary. They run throught the broken enclosure and close then lock the door behind them. They look out to see if the chimps followed them. A few chimps look investigate around the enclosure. Tobi and Cookie crouch down under the door's window.

"They are hostile. They attack if we too close," Tobi signs.

"We cannot give up," Cookie signs back.

"I not give up."

"We keep distance, like you say. They adjust to us, we get closer. We contact one or two."

Tobi nods.

"We look around for supplies," he signs. The two of them look around the derelict sanctuary for any food or water. They find in the sanctuary's store room only various knick-knacks. They look around for a staff room. After they find it, Tobi checks the refridgerator: It has long since stopped working, but it contains a twelve-pack of bottled water with only one bottle missing.

"Water!" Tobi says.

Cookie had looked through the cabinets and found various packaged food: Granola, breakfast, and candy bars.

"Food here," Cookie says.

Tobi points to the water faucet.

"Check water."

Cookie turns the knob for the faucet. Brown water trickles out.

"No good," Cookie gestures.

"These go few days, maybe," Tobi signs.

"We hunt more food, find working faucet in city."

"No need. Map says pond here."

"Those chimps," Cookie signs fiercely.

"We avoid them. They get used to us. Eventually."

"How long?"

"Could be a while."


	2. Chapter 2

It has been a couple weeks after Cookie and Tobi found the sanctuary, and they are still trying to get the chimps around used to their presence. They both use water bottles to get water out of a pond.

'We not make much progress,' Cookie signs.

'We will find way,' Tobi signs.

It is at this time that a chimp walks up to the pond. A female, with her baby and another juvenile daughter. She pauses when she sees Tobi and Cookie.

'One of them,' Cookie signs slowly.

'Give me food,' Tobi signs.

'We not have much food left,' Cookie signs, emphasising

'Give it to me.'

'Alright.'

Cookie stares Tobi in the eyes, a vacant expression masking doubt and irritation. He tosses an orange at Tobi and keeps his eyes on the chimps that are across from him and Tobi. Tobi, attempting to be as easy as possible, begins walking toward the chimp while Cookie looks on, ready to react. The juvenile female with her walks to investigate Tobi but her mother turns her away. Tobi rolls the orange across the ground at her. The mother slowly takes it and looks at Tobi. She peels and eats the orange and from what Tobi and Cookie can tell, she enjoys it. She shares the food with her daughters

Cookie grunts. Tobi looks over

'You gave her our food,' He gestures. Tobi acknowledges this with a nod and turns back around.

The juvenile once again walks up to investigate Tobi. The Mother watches carefully. The juvenile touches Tobi. Tobi touches her back. The juvenile goes back to her mother. The mother puts her arm over her daughter and looks at Tobi briefly. She drinks from the pond. Cookie stares intently at her. The chimp looks at Cookie and nervously grabs her daughter and walks away.

'You gave her our food. They probably have food out there. We need own food. They will not let us have theirs. Food scarce for us,' Cookie signs.

'That food was the first step in earning their trust,' Tobi responds.

'I hope it works. We would risk our lives to get food from them.' Cookie responds.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days after their visit from a stranger at the pond, Tobi and Cookie now rummage throught the storage room, looking for anything they can eat. Tobi turns things over while Cookie lifts and moves things around and scans all the empty containers.

"We have reached the last of our food," Cookie says.

"There might be something," Tobi responds.

"We have no food, Tobi. We need to accept it."

Tobi sighs.

"The orange wouldn't have mattered in the long run, Tobi. I don't hold it against you."

Tobi stares forward.

"We need to hunt," he says.

"Tobi, if we go into their territory, they could kill us. We should just search the city for more food."

Tobi shakes his head.

"The humans are more dangerous than the other chimps are. The chimps will leave us alone if they see us, as long as we retreat. Humans may not show the same courtesy."

"Then why have the humans not come here?"

"Maybe they do not know we are here."

"Humans would have come here if they did not fear the chimps. There is a reason there aren't humans here."

"Humans have guns."

Cookie remains silent. He looks ahead as he realises this and wonders why the humans were not in the forest.

"We need to hunt. But first what we need is a hunting weapon."

"How will we make it?"

"We need to find a lot of wood. We need to fashion spears and a thrower."

"We have had no practise with such weapons. We-"

"We have to try or we will not be able to eat."

"If we are to hunt in their territory then why do we not forage instead?"

"Foraging will take more time. If we can kill an animal we will be able to take it back more quickly than searching for food."

Cookie remains silent, quietly admitting that Tobi has a point.

Tobi and Cookie look at each other. They silently move out of the sanctuary to search for suitable pieces of wood for an atlatl and spears. After they had armloads of what they expect to be suitable pieces of wood, they return to the sanctuary building. They dump the wood on the floor of the former chimp enclosure.

"We need something to carve these," Tobi says.

"We could search for a knife. They might have used one to open packages," Cookie reasons. Tobi hums in agreement.

They head off to the storage room in search of something to carve the wood. Within a few minutes, they find a box cutter. After they find the box cutter, They look at each other and after a split second, they embrace each other. They squeeze each other and loosen enough to look at each other. After a brief delay they touch lips and return to a more tight hug. Tobi rubs Cookie's arm

"We need to make these spears..." Tobi says hesitantly.

Cookie scoffs

"I suppose we will have time for celebration later," Cookie says.

Tobi lets go and goes to the wood and begins to fashion a suitable piece of wood into a spear thrower while Cookie tries to pick out the most straight pieces. While they are working, Cookie spots a chimp walk up throught the gap on the enclosure's bars. Cookie stares at them. The chimp has a juvenile and a baby with them - Cookie assumes this is the chimp they met at the pond few days ago.

She seems different, Cookie thinks. The chimp is walking upright moreso than she was a few days ago, the same way Tobi and Cookie do, and her eyed seem to have become a lighter shade. Her children exhibit similar changes.

Tobi noticed Cookie looking intently at something, and looks over at the chimp Cookie was looking at. Tobi stands up and places a hand on his macuahuitl.

"She has something," Cookie gestures.

Tobi looks over to her. She has the corpse of a couple squirrels in her hand. Tobi and Cookie look at each other. The chimp slowly approaches the two of them and holds out the animals. Tobi gingerly takes them from her and looks in her eyes: they are green, like his and Cookie's, as are those of her children.

"Thank you," Tobi says, but the chimp doesn't seem to understand him. He smiles at the chimp, which seems to put her on-guard. Tobi drops his smile in favour of simply holding out is hand. The chimp rakes the fur on his arm with her hand, briefly looking through it a picking a couple of pieces of bark from it.

Tobi turns to Cookie.

"We have food," he gestures. Cookie smiles in return.

The chimp meanders over to Tobi's half-crafted spear thrower. Tobi walks over to the thrower and picks it back up and continues to wittle it. The chimp stares intently at what he's doing. Tobi looks at her and smiles. The chimp doesn't react defensively, perhaps indicating that she's already picking up that it's a kind gesture.

Tobi notices the chimp is looking at what he's doing and decides to go about it more methodically.

Cookie looks on nervously.

"I have the pieces sorted. Some of these, I don't think will make good dpears after all."

"That is fine," Tobi says. He continues to carve his atlatl in the watchful gaze of the chimp. The chimp's daughter picks up one of the sticks Cookie sorted. Cookie takes it from her, and the juvenile leaps on him to get it back while the mother diverts her attention to what is happening. Cookie instead hands one of the reject sticks to the young chimp. The chimp takes it and scanters off a few feet and begins to play with it. Tobi smiles again, an expression the adult female mirrors. Tobi continues to carve the atlatl.

Hours pass and Tobi is satisfied with the shape.

"This will do," Tobi says. The adult female inspects the tool, still not sure what it is.

Cookie responds by handing Tobi one of the sticks. Tobi begins cutting it into a spear. The juvenile has become tired and now goes to her mother and hugs her. Tobi enjoys the company of these strangers.

Eventually the adult female becomes restless and gets up. Tobi doesn't want her to leave just yet. He decides to give her a demonstration of how the thrower is supposed to work. He stands up and puts the whittled stick into the thrower and tosses it at one of the bars. It passes through the gap between the bars. Tobi reslises he'd need to practise with the tool before he can use it well. Nevertheless, the female chimp appears intruiged. She retrieves the "spear". She returns it to Tobi. Tobi smiles at her and places it back in the thrower and tries again. It bounces off one of the bars. Tobi attributes it to a lucky shot.

The chimp mother takes the spear thrower and examines it. She retrieves the whittled stick and puts it into the holder. She throws the spear. She releases it too early and it flies straight up in the air and lands a few feet from her. Cookie stifles a chuckle.

"It seems we could all use pratice with the atlatl," Tobi says. The female freezes, preumably perplexed. She doesn't understand what he's saying.

As Tobi smiles, the female looks outside and sees it turning dark. She looks back at Tobi and Cookie. She grabs her baby and holds sits down by her older child, who grabs hold of her back. She head off away from the building, toward the rest of her group.

Cookie looks at Tobi.

"I think, traps would do best if there are small animals like squirrels. It would take too long to master this weapon," Cookie says. Tobi nods in agreement.

"Save the rest of the wood for buiding a trap," Tobi says. He sits down to begin setting up a trap.


	4. Chapter 4

"How will we know where to put them?" Cookie asks.

"We have a map. We place them where the brush is thick." Tobi responds

"The park has not been kept, but there is still little brush," Cookie responds.

"The traps will still work. We just need bait for the box traps,"

"What bait? We have no food! And what will we do while we wait for the traps to catch something," Cookie responds.

"I guess we will have to go into the city," Tobi responds.

Cookie gives a short alarmed sound. He cuts himself off and begins gesturing.

"No choice."

Tobi nods in response. They have no choice but to do so if they want to keep eating. No garuntee that the chimp from earlier will come by to give them more food.

"We should set the traps first," Tobi says. Cookie nods in agreement.

"Where we set them?" Cookie signs.

"We will have to place them where the trees are thickest. The spears will only work in a small time. They need to be sprung quickly. The boxes need to be set in brush, where small creatures go. If we hide them well, we will not need to bait them."

"If we have to set them, we will need to keep together," Cookie responds.

Tobi nods. He picks up sets of rope and sharpened sticks while Cookie picks up two boxes which have been built from salvaged parts. Tobi and cookie make eye contact and head out, each with his own determination.

First, Tobi sets up the spears. On some nearby trees he attaches tripwires to the sticks and half-wraps them around one of the trees. After he sets up the trap, he looks over to Cookie. Cookie moves one of the box traps from his shoulder and cradles it in his arm. Tobi takes the box trap with both hands. They exchange a look of hesitation.

"Where will we go?" Cookie asks.

"We will have to go west, where the forest is thicker," Tobi responds.

"West? But _they're_ there," Cookie reminds Tobi. Tobi merely grunts in repsonse, prompting Cookie to exhale sharply. Despite the danger, it is their best chance of making the traps work. They make their way cautiously to the west part of the park, where the lack of development allowed nature to take its course more easily: There was more underbrush and thickets. With Cookie having already set one trap closer to their location at the abandoned sanctuary, Tobi still carries the second trap. Cookie spots a good location, and directs Tobi to set it up.

"How long, do you think?" Cookie asks.

"We check them tomorrow. I hope these chimps do not discover them and open the traps for themselves," Tobi responds.

The sound of dead leaves shifting nearby distracts their attention. The two set eyes on a small group of chimps. They all stand momentarily paralyzed in surprised. Tobi instantly draws his macuahitl, while Cookie follows suit. Tobi and Cookie recognise three of the five opposing chimps as the chimp from before and her children. The two others are males Tobi and Cookie do not recognise.

The males make alarm calls, promptly becoming physically riled and piloerect. The female chimp decides to not get involved and steps away from the scene, but stays close enought to keep an eye on the situation.

The males screech and display at Tobi and Cookie but do not seem to move in. Instinct compels Tobi to run to a nearby tree and jump at it, pounding the trunk with his free hand. Tobi swings his weapon wildly and returns to a fighting stance. The males continue to make a ruckus while Tobi stares them down. Cookie begins to hoot and call to Tobi.

"Tobi! We need to run!" Cookie screams.

Tobi maitains his calm demeanor and steps toward the males, who back away but do not cease their display. Cookie reluctantly takes a step forward behind Tobi.

Tobi stomps on the ground and screeches at the top of his lungs. The males seem to decide they would rather not go throught the trouble of a fight and run off calling, the female follows in tow with her children.

Tobi takes a deep breath and stows his weapon. Cookie eagerly does the same. Cookie rushes up to Tobi and places a hand on his shoulder to turn him around.

"You could have gotten us killed!" Cookie shouts in Tobi's face.

"Those two were older than us, but they would not be able to fight us while we have our weapons," Tobi reasons, "and that chimp, the one we saw before, would not have gotten involved. I worry we've set back our goal of earning their trust, but if we are to be part of them we must stand our ground."

"Be part? It sounds like you want to command them!" Cookie responds.

Tobi slowly puts on a toothy grin.

"What use is knowing how to craft if I cannot direct them to do similarly? I will teach them someday," Tobi says. Cookie freezes momentarily and merely looks at Tobi.

"How can you be sure they want to learn?"

"Because it will be useful to them."

Cookie pauses. He is not sure Tobi is thinking this through; however, there are other concerns at the moment.

"We need to forage for supplies," Cookie says. Tobi nods in agreement. They head out of the eastways and begin to look for supplies.


End file.
